American Democratic Politics is Trapped in Structural Contradictions

On the eve of the January 20 United States presidential inauguration, the latest data released by Johns Hopkins University showed that the total number of deaths from the COVID-19 in the US had exceeded 400,000. Such an enormous number should not appear in a country that boasts the world’s most advanced medical technologies. It is a bloody accusation against the US government’s improper response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the past year, the US government’s inability to contain the virus led to many serious social crises; George Floyd’s death ignited a racial confrontation; US presidential election resulted in the violent attempt at the US Capitol to "overturn" election outcomes…These independent events highlighted the political polarization and social divisions in the United States, and exposed the weakness of US democratic institutions.

The ineffective response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals severe social divisions in American society. Judging from other countries’ successful experiences in preventing and controlling the virus, it is necessary that the government takes responsibility and works with people. However, on the one hand, the Trump administration put capital gains and re-election above people's health, downplayed the impacts of the pandemic, and disrupted normal prevention and control procedures through administrative orders and social media. On the other hand, some people in the US opposed restrictions on individual freedom, and refused to obey prevention measures such as maintaining social distance and wearing masks in public places. Although the Trump administration’s performance had obvious personal characteristics of Trump himself, it represented the political inclinations of the Republican Party and his supporters. According to the research of the Pew Research Center, the Democrats and Republicans have very different perceptions and attitudes about the pandemic. About 76% of Democratic supporters believe that the pandemic is a serious problem facing the US, while only 37% of Republican supporters hold this view. American social divisions are reflected both on the level of values and on the level of interests.

Social divisions hinder the prevention and control of the pandemic, and the spread of the pandemic has further exacerbated social divisions. Vulnerable groups including the elderly, low-income people, and ethnic minorities are the most affected. In contrast, politicians, socialites, and celebrities are given priority in testing and treatment. The poor get poorer, while the rich get richer. In this context, economic inequality in the US has further increased.

George Floyd’s death in police custody reveals the racial rift in American society. This incident violated the human rights of African-Americans, therefore, massive anti-police demonstrations took place in hundreds of cities across the US, some of which eventually turned into fierce conflicts and riots. Many cities had to implement curfews; several states declared a state of emergency; even the White House was surrounded by angry demonstrators…Although the death of George Floyd drew global attention via the internet, it is in fact only a small tip of the iceberg of the fragile American race relations. Similar incidents frequently occur in the US.

Race issues have always been considered as an important source of social divisions and conflicts in the US. According to a Pew Research Center survey, nearly 60% of the respondents believe that “the race relations in the US are very bad.” It is worth noting that people of different races in the US have split perceptions on race issues. Approximately 65% of whites believe those police killings of African Americans are independent incidents, but 81% of African Americans think similar incidents are a widespread phenomenon

The farce over the US presidential election reveals serious political polarization in the US. The 2020 US presidential election, which was held against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, can be described as the most competitive and dramatic one. Even though he lost the game, Trump still set a record of 75 million votes. After the election, Trump filed lawsuits in several states on the grounds of lack of legitimacy in mailing ballots, fraudulent voting, and manipulation of the vote-counting system. His successive requests once triggered the risk of a constitutional crisis in the US. Under Trump’s calls and encouragement, his supporters even stormed the US Capitol on January 6. The US government had to deploy a large number of National Guards into Washington D.C. to maintain order and make sure that the inauguration of the president-elect proceeded as scheduled.

What do these farces tell us is the sharply opposing positions of the Democratic and Republican parties. The two sides have irreconcilable differences in values, and both regard each other’s victory as a national crisis. Today, Democrats and Republicans both believe that members of the other party are hypocritical, selfish, and closed-minded, so much so that they are unwilling to cooperate with the other side. In a sense, political stance has been transformed into identity. American scholar Francis Fukuyama had pointed out that American political parties have been replaced by political tribes. Even after Biden’s inauguration, 77% of Republicans still believed that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Political polarization and social division are chronic diseases in the American society hidden beneath the cover of democracy. Between the two, political polarization is the symptom while social division is the real cause of the disease. Social divisions in the US include the class division and racial division at the structural level, as well as the division between liberalism and conservatism, and globalism and isolationism at the values level. Not only major issues such as immigration, race, gun rights, globalization, climate change, and political correctness but minor issues like wearing masks, can become a flashpoint for social division. When a country lacks basic consensus due to extreme social divisions, any political system will be powerless.

Contributed by Hao Yaming, Guizhou Minzu University

Translated by Ren Meiqi